IK Multimedia ToneX Pedal

Just bought this pedal after finding great guitar tones in the Tonex Max software for my recordings (clean and hi-gain). I wanted to bring those tones to live gigs without carrying all the gear I’m used to. Turns out it was a great surprise - just plugged it into the front of house, and it was ready to go, loud and clear.
The IK software can be a bit of a hassle at first, with the initial setup (registering, connecting, managing libraries, etc.), but once you’re up and running, it’s all fun. Another thing to note is that if you expect to match the sound exactly - or as close as possible - to what you hear directly from the software, you might need to adjust the trim input and level your stuff accordingly.
Overall, the quality and experience with this little unit were a pleasant surprise. The interface controls are really handy - you can adjust almost every parameter, switch amps, turn off the cab, tweak modulation, and more - however, the "Alt" option in the pedal might be a little misleading, since you're adjusting two different things in the same knob, but you can live with it.
Gotta say, for the price, it’s definitely worth it!

This unit is a Game Changer, if you search for a profiler! This is much better comparing with Kemper and Quad Cortex (I used them both) for much less money.

BUT, if you want to play it with a power amp (like Matrix GT 1000) and with a guitar cabinet, this is not a choice for you. I've tried almost all available monitors and linear speakers (FRFR), but I've never been satisfied and I also don't like to play with headphones. You will ask, why I don't just use guitar amps instead? I play different genre and I like the sound of different amps, but I don't want to spend 20K EUR just for amps.

Con:
So, if you mainly play with guitar cabinet, profiling technology is not for you, because you will never get the sound of the amp alone, but you will hear the whole profile chain. The algorithm that cuts the cabinet frequencies is just an approximation. You have to look for modellers, like Fractal, Helix, Hotone II etc. BTW the amps that use modelling in Quad Cortex are not so good in my opinion.

If you use FRFR, studio monitors or headphones, the profiles are higher quality compared with Kemper and Quad Cortex.

I'll stick with my Fractal FM9.

I bought this about two years ago and use it virtually every day. The main reason for using this is that the tone models sound really, really good. Honestly, I think I'm at the point where I genuinely don't see myself needing a tube amp. The Tonex pedal is fairly simple to use and it's easy to change the settings on the fly. The Tonex pedal is my amp when I play with my band. There are only two small downsides that I can think of. 1) The electrical grounding is not very good, so this is susceptible to weird buzzing sounds. And if paired with another device that also has grounding issues (for ex. Tonex One), some weird frequencies will likely occur. So use an isolated power source! 2) The three buttons in the front are a bit heavy to push, sometimes I try to push it and it doesn't change the bank. But I just have to remind myself to press it a bit harder!

So overall, absolutely brilliant product and you get a ton of stuff for the money. Love it.

I've had it for 3 months, and I couldn't be happier. It was difficult for me to order it, because I didn't read anything but complaints about how complicated it is to manage its application, and that it is mandatory to buy premium download packs. Nothing further from reality. The factory presets are not bad, there are better and worse ones. If you don't like them, you can download practically any amplifier and cab you want, as well as all kinds of overdrive or fuzz pedals, absolutely free, and in a very simple way (I don't understand people who complain so much about the software), it works fantastically. . Another different thing is that you have to investigate among the thousands of profiles there are and find your favorites, that takes time, but the pedal is great.
I use it with a power amplifier to a 4x12 cabin, and it is great.
There is a test on YT by Tim Pierce of the Tone X, and he says he would pay double for it. He compares it head to head with some of his amps, and nails them. I agree with him..

I primarily use the unit through headphones at home or a PA for band rehearsals. I have not used the capture functionality so far, so I cannot judge that.

For above uses, the ToneX pedal performs well. To my ears, it sounds as good as more expensive profilers or real amps.

The main positive point I want to stress in this review is the updated software. A lot of previous reviews complain about the earlier UX of IK Multimedia's software, which, I agree, was pretty bad.

However, recent updates not only added delays and modulation effects to the pedals (and free of additional charge, nevertheless), but also HUGELY improved the tone design workflow.

With the updated software, one can finally edit presets live on the pedal, filter functionality is well thought through and drag-and-drop is pretty intuitive.

In my opinion, the software went from really confusing to very well designed.


Besides that, setting parameters on the pedal itself is not super straightforward due to the limited screen, so it takes some time with the manual if one wants to configure more "subsurface level" settings without using a computer. This is why I deducted one star from "handling".

The second shortcoming is that in my instance, the headphone jack developed a malfunction where one of the stereo channels emits a high pitched white-noise. This was not the case in the beginning, so I suspect a hardware fault, which is why I removed a star from quality.
The pedal itself though feels well made and sturdy.

To conclude:
It does what it's supposed to do, sounds good, and the new software is a substantial improvement.

The interface on the pedal takes some time to get used to though.

I expected this to be a one and done solution which would fit with my existing pedalboard and replace my need for an amp head. Clearly i got a dud. The pedal is built like a tank and very attractive but severely lacks at the job it's supposed to do. The interface is straight up confusing garbage

The pedal kept hissing constantly and even wheezing at random times even though everything was connected properly. It kept randomly losing power (the sidelights are working, but not the display) and just stuttering.
Even when connected to my PC, it showed significant delay between chords struck and the sound being heard ( reduced buffer, did everything every tutorial suggested).

But i could deal with all of that since i mostly play at home. I purchased aftermarket captures which sound amazing on YT but they simply did not deliver in reality. The clean amps are okeyish, but the distortion amps all sound terrible. I fell for the hype and i am thoroughly disappointment both in myself and the product.